Hotels and Hospitality Industry Business Consultants, Page 1

ConsulTex and Associates is a Houston based security consulting company that provides security strategies for individual clients, law enforcement, and corporate security clients. ConsulTex is available nationwide to answer questions regarding security measures, or offer solutions that fit their clients' needs.

Services Include:

Expert Witness Analysis
Use of Force
Police Procedure and Practice
Security Tactics and Policies
Training and Speaking Engagements

Principal, Roger W. Chappell, has over 25 years of experience in the Law Enforcement and Security industry. A 9 year Marine Corp Veteran, he is also a former corporate security manager, police crime prevention specialist, detective supervisor, police training manager, and internal affairs sergeant.

As Security Management Professional, his background includes an advanced 22-year law enforcement career with the highly regarded Houston Police Department. He received over 40 awards in that capacity, including supervisory and civilian commendations.

Mr. Chappell has more than 20 years of training and “hands on” experience evaluating, developing, and managing security and crime prevention programs. He coordinated numerous security related functions at hotels, bars and night clubs, and apartments. Mr. Chappell has handled large events during the Super Bowl, MLB All Stars, and NCAA Final Four events. He was also a hostage negotiator for over 12 years responsible for the safe resolution to highly stressful and violent events.

Roger Chappell has served as both a private sector security consultant and a public sector Master Peace Officer. He has earned a stellar reputation as an expert in hostage negotiation and received the prestigious Hostage Negotiator of the Year award in 2013.

View Roger Chappell's Expert Witness Profile.

• Roger Chappell's Curriculum Vitae

• Services

7/7/2015 · Security

Security Response to a Large Incident: How Much Is Too Much?

By: Roger Chappell

A report of shots fired at the Navy Yard in Washington, D. C. brought a huge response from law enforcement from all areas. The response was immediate and overwhelming. As it turns out, the report was false. The incident remains under investigation at the time of this writing.

Read Article

5/26/2015 · Security

Security at Major Events

By: Roger Chappell

Coordinating security for corporate offices, hotels, apartments, convenience stores, and just about every other possible location can have its challenges. Coordinating security at major events, however, is especially challenging. This article will focus on some of the challenges I faced when coordinating security for several events and locations in Houston, Texas for Super Bowl XXXVI.

Read Article

5/4/2015 · Police Practices & Procedures

Search Warrant or Consent to Search?

By: Roger Chappell

Not long after I promoted to sergeant, I was training in a patrol division. I was riding with another sergeant when we received a call from two patrol officers. They were at an apartment complex and had chased a male into an apartment. They requested a supervisor go by with them. So, as part of my training, we went.

Read Article

4/2/2015 · Police Practices & Procedures

Due Diligence and Eyewitness Identification

By: Roger Chappell

I have read a number of books, studies, and court cases in my career to support the fact that eyewitness identification, by itself, is never sufficient enough to send a person to prison. This is not news. Over the past 20 years, more and more people are being exonerated for violent crimes due to DNA . This article is not to rehash old arguments. Instead, it is more of a reminder to investigators everywhere to not finalize a case, charge a person, and send them to prison based solely on an eyewitness' identification.

Read Article

3/26/2015 · Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement: Responding to People in Mental Health Crisis

By: Roger Chappell

During my 22-year law enforcement career, I became involved in countless situations in which I personally dealt with people in mental health crisis. My first incident involved a Hispanic male armed with a pistol. I learned a significant amount from that single incident: so much, in fact, that I made the decision to join the Houston Police Department's Hostage Negotiation Team. The techniques I have learned over the years can be applicable to almost anyone, at any time, in just about any situation. In the following paragraphs, I will recount a few incidents in which I was involved and discuss the techniques used to end each the situation safely. Understand that this is not a specific "how-to guide" that may be applied to every situation. Instead, the use of these techniques will simply allow a person that becomes aware of a certain situation - to be able to attempt to stabilize the incident prior to first responders' arrival.

Read Article

Preston Rideout is a nightclub and bar consultant specializing in Dram Shop Expert Witness Testimony. He has 25 years of bar operations experience and 75 alcohol safety certifications. Preston is CEO of Rideout Hospitality and Founder of The Dram Shop Experts.

Upon graduating from the University of Mississippi, Preston relocated to Las Vegas to work for Pure Management Group. While in Las Vegas, Preston operated Coyote Ugly, Tangerine Nightclub, Pure Nightclub, PCD Lounge, LAX Nightclub, Noir Bar Audigier Nightclub, EVE Nightclub, Venus Pool Club, and Rehab Pool Party inside Treasure Island Casino, New York New York Casino, Caesars Palace, The Luxor, Aria Casino, and The Hard Rock Hotel. After Las Vegas, Preston launched Rideout Hospitality.

As CEO of Rideout Hospitality, Preston provides consulting to casinos, hotels, resorts, restaurants, nightclubs, bars, and hospitality management groups across the United States, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Clients retain Preston to optimize bar operations, create alcohol service policies, implement operating procedures, and conduct bartender training. Together. Preston and his team of consultants have provided consulting to over 250 clients

As Founder of The Dram Shop Experts, Preston provides plaintiff and defense attorneys with Liquor Liability, Premise Liability, Personal Injury, Catastrophic Injury, and Wrongful Death expert witness testimony. Attorneys retain Preston to provide insight into alcohol-related industry-standard operating procedures, intoxication identification, training adequacy, management oversight, alcohol service policies, procedures, bottle service, mechanical bull operations, pool parties, underage alcohol prevention, security, use of force and deadly force.

Preston Rideout has been retrained 73 times to provide Dram Shop Expert Witness Testimony. He’s been retained by Defendant’s 23 times and Plaintiff’s 50 times.

Over the past 25 years, Preston Rideout has worked as a College Bartender, Security, Vegas Nightclub Bartender, Bar Manager, Casino Nightclub Manager, Assistant General Manager, 5,000 Person Pool Party Manager, General Manager, Multi-State Director of Nightlife, Multi-Unit Director of Bar Operations and CEO of Rideout Hospitality.

Among Dram Shop Experts, Preston Rideout has the most actual alcohol service experience and the most (75) alcohol safety certifications in the nation. For these reasons, he is a highly sought-after hospitality consultant and widely considered the leading bar operation expert in the legal industry.

View Preston Rideout's Expert Witness Profile.

• Preston Rideout's Curriculum Vitae

• Dram Shop Experts

8/27/2024 · Dram Shop Liability

Dram Shop Law And Liquor Liability

By: Preston Rideout

Dram Shop Law and Liquor Liability are legal concepts that holds businesses responsible for serving alcohol to visibly intoxicated individuals or minors who later cause harm. Liquor liability is crucial for ensuring that establishments are accountable for alcohol-related incidents, such as drunk driving accidents and altercations.

Read Article

Gary Deel, Ph.D., J.D. has 10 years of experience in executive-level positions in the hospitality industry and 10 years of experience teaching hospitality management and law curriculum for some of the nation's top hotel schools.

Dr. Deel holds both a Ph.D. in Hospitality and a J.D. in Law, so he understands the nuances of expert witness testimony from the perspective of attorney strategy. He has also worked in a variety of different hospitality industry capacities including operations, sales, security and risk management, training and administration, and others. His services are available to help attorneys make the strongest possible arguments for clients in hospitality-related cases. Dr. Deel offers expert witness services nationwide in the areas of:

Hotels
Resorts
Restaurants
Travel and Tourism
Meetings and Events

Theme Parks
Airlines
Cruise Lines
Casinos
Golf Courses

Recent Cases:

Suit against Miami beach resort involving catastrophic injury in the ocean and hotel duty to warn about latent hazards known to hotel and not obvious to visitors (plaintiff).
Suit against Orlando city center convention hotel involving sexual assault of a minor guest by an employee and hotel duty to monitor employee whereabouts and activities (plaintiff).

• Dr. Deel's Curriculum Vitae

Leonard J. Backer has over 28 years of extensive and successful Furniture Industry experience in all key areas including:

Sourcing
Private Label Production
Product Development
Original Design
Marketing
Branding
Import and Distribution

Vendor Qualification

Supplier Relations

Contract Negotiations

Customer Service

Competitive Analysis

Sales Agreements

Designer Driven Approach

Mr. Backer has executive level perspective in start-up, turnaround and aggressive growth situations with long term industry relations, both domestically and overseas. He specializes in Private Label Manufacturing, Sourcing, and Product Development expertise.

Leonard Backer has provided extensive consulting work on short and long term projects. He has provided consulting work on various topics over the past few years for private equity companies, large branded manufacturers, and independent product designers. Mr. Backer has conducted site visits to 80 overseas and domestic factory operations. Worked closely with independent product designers.

View Leonard Backer's Expert Witness Profile.

• Leonard Backer's Curriculum Vitae

• Publications

• LinkedIn Profile

10/2/2019 · Hotels & Hospitality

Residential Seating is Not Safe Enough for Commercial or Hospitality Use

By: Leonard Backer

Many restaurants, independent hotels and timeshare resorts have much tighter budgets these days when it comes to purchasing seating for their properties. At the same time, there seem to be many “attractive” options available for their chairs, barstools and benches...

Read Article

6/4/2015 · Design

Personal Injury: Pay More Attention To The Chairs

By: Leonard Backer

Basic but very important points which could help minimize owners' liability and financial exposure to accident and personal injury claims on their premises.

Read Article

Perry Group International, founded in 1985, provides consulting, interim hotel management and restaurant and hospitality expert services for lodging, food services, resorts, and nightclubs. Their group does work nationally and internationally with new startup, profitable, and under-performing and distressed hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs, retail and mixed-use real estate.

The professionals at Perry Group International serve as third-party asset manager, owners representative, and advisor, for investors and owners. They also act as court appointed receivers and interim hospitality managers for lenders, operators, and their legal and real estate professionals. Clients have included Biscuits & Blues, Cantina’s, Chevy’s, Choice Hotels, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inns, Hilton, Holiday Inns, Hooter’s Casino, Hyatt, Marriott, McDonald’s, Microtel Inn & Suites, Outback Restaurants, Radisson, Residence Inns, Signature Resort, Sizzler, Sonic Drive-Ins, Starbucks, Starwood, Sheraton, Togo’s, Wendy’s, and Willie Mays Skybox Lounge among others.

Hospitality Management Consulting:

Interim Hotel Management
Temporary General Manager
Short Term Corporate Manager

Owners Representative
Hotel Asset Manager
Project Supervisor

Hotel Restaurant Nightclub Consulting:

Acquisition and Disposition Due Diligence
Financial Evaluation and Income Impact
Planning, Market Analysis, Feasibility
Operations and Internal Review
Business Interruption

Pre-opening / Post-opening Technical Support
Workouts, Restructuring and Repositioning
Court Appointed Receiver
Provisional Director
Expert Witness

Dennis Gemberling, CHA, CFBE, FMP, FCSI, President and Founder of Perry Group International, has over 35 years of experience in the Hospitality Management industry. His experience includes managing, operating, and consulting on full-service, limited-service, extended-stay, all-suite, condo and timeshare hotels and resorts, casual, fine-dining, and quick-service restaurants, bars and nightclubs, special event facilities, casinos, and mixed-use real estate.

Mr. Gemberling has held prior positions for different owners, operators, and chains as Senior Vice President, General Manager, Director of Food & Beverage, and Restaurant Unit Manager. He has been retained for over 400 projects with typical values in the $1 million to $75 million range and revenues in the $1 million to $100 million range both nationally and internationally.

View Dennis Gemberling's Expert Witness Profile.

• Biography

• Services

• Clients

• Articles

• Blog

Howard Cannon, Restaurant, Bar, and Foodservice Industry Author, Speaker, Analyst, Consultant, Expert Witness, Mediator, and CEO has served dozens of the world's largest restaurant brands, and has worked in virtually every type and style of restaurant, bar, and food service industry environment, from convenience food to fine dining, and on behalf of nearly every type, size, and style of company, from Fortune 500 international companies to independent "mom-and-pop" operations.

Author: Mr. Cannon’s world-famous books can be found in book stores in 76 countries around the globe including Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, Amazon, and many other fine retailers. Mr. Cannon's most famous books, including, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting A Restaurant (1st & 2nd Edition,)", are highly-recognizable and read by tens of thousands of people.

Restaurant Expert Witness, a division of Restaurant Operations Institute, Inc. - founded in 1987, is one of America's most highly-visible & highly-recognizable restaurant, bar, and foodservice industry consulting, expert witness, and advisory firms - providing restaurant, bar, and foodservice industry analysis, consultation, expertise, opinions, advice, management, mediation, content, and expert witness services to clients of all types and sizes, and in markets across the country and around the globe. View Howard Cannon's Expert Witness Profile

Consulting Services:

Restaurant Expert Witness Services: litigation support - unbiased opinions, testimony, and reports - for Plaintiffs and Defendants in State and Federal courts. NO CHARGE for domestic travel.
Restaurant Turnaround & Profit Improvement: for those looking to get better performance out of their restaurant or group of restaurants of any type, style or size anywhere across the country or around the world.
Restaurant Start-Up: a wide variety of products and services, specializing in projects for high net worth individuals and for restaurants and bars that are well-funded.

Restaurant Seminars:

How to Start a Restaurant – attended by people from every walk of life that dream of opening and operating a successful restaurant.
How to Fix a Restaurant – attended by those who are already in the restaurant business in either a chain or an independent with responsibility for one to several dozen locations. These participants are generally looking for higher sales, lower costs, and better profits.

Custom Restaurant Industry Speeches & Seminars: providing unique and memorable speeches and seminars covering a wide variety of restaurant-based subject matter to audiences of all types and sizes in markets across the country and around the world.

Website: www.RestaurantExpertWitness.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RestaurantExpertWtns/videos

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantExpertWitnessServices

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-expert-witness/

• Howard Cannon's Curriculum Vitae

• Video - Restaurant Expert Witness - Cases Since 1987

• Video - Howard Cannon Media Compilation

• Video - Restaurant Expert Witness Howard Cannon Restaurant OSHA Expert

• LinkedIn

• Facebook

• Youtube

3/12/2019 · Workplace Violence

Litigation Cases Involving Violence in Restaurants

By: Howard Cannon

Did you know that restaurants are more likely to experience workplace violence than any other industry in America? In this article we will help you find out why restaurants are so prone to violence, what leads to violence, the practical steps to help make restaurants safe, and the insider information that you need when dealing with one of these legal matters.

Read Article

2/19/2019 · OSHA

OSHA Standards for Restaurant Lawsuits: It's More Than Just a Poster

By: Howard Cannon

OSHA guidelines, standards and safety rules apply to nearly every restaurant industry legal matter and it is a whole lot more than the little bit of text on the OSHA wall poster. Your case will more likely than not depend on the standards applied and whether or not you know the standards and how best to apply them to your legal matter as it pertains specifically to restaurants.

Read Article

1/24/2019 · OSHA

Shared Space Applies to Your Restaurant Lawsuit

By: Howard Cannon

If you have a pending lawsuit that pertains to a restaurant or bar industry legal matter, you need to know what "shared space" is, and how it applies to your underlying legal matter, and the role that OSHA guidelines, codes and safety rules will have. Shared space is an industry specific formula and will impact the standards that you apply and could be the difference between winning or losing your case.

Read Article

Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security: The Book of Restaurant Industry Standards & Best Practices

Howard Cannon and Shirley Waters

Compiled from more than 1,000 hours of research and statistical analysis, Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security was written to help provide restaurant owners, managers, executives, employers, employees, and vendors what they need to know about OSHA and industry standards and best practices in simple language, so they can concentrate on being successful and making money.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting A Restaurant (2nd Ed,)

Howard Cannon

In this revised edition, aspiring restaurateurs will find everything they need to know to open a successful restaurant, including choosing a concept and location, creating a business plan, finding the cash, and much more. New content includes information on tips, tip-outs, and reporting for the entire staff, choosing the best POS system, setting up a bar and managing the wine list, and making the bottom line look good long-term.

Stretch Yourself-- Getting Promoted

Howard Cannon

David Rutecki's career spans 39 years of Restaurant and Hospitality related experience. Working in more than 20 restaurants and involved in the opening of more than a dozen, he has worked every position possible within this industry. Mr. Rutecki currently owns and operates Mountain Deli in Hendersonville, garnering the 2016, 2017 & 2018 Blue Ridge Growth Award. He is a Member of the North Carolina and National Restaurant Associations. Mr. Rutecki has been invloved in the following selected restaurants:

Fancy’s Food and Wine, Gourmet Shop, Coral Gables, South Miami & Grove Isle, Fl.
Susie’s Bagels, Breakfast Restaurant, South Miami, Fl.
Pizzaria Uno, Full Service Restaurant, Miami, Fl.
Baystreet, Full Service Seafood Restaurant, Miami, Fl.
Rusty Pelican, Upscale Seafood, Key Biscayne, Miami, Fl.
Rudolph's BBQ, Upscale BBQ, Miami, Fl.
Signature Gardens, Upscale Catering Hall, Miami, Fl.
Chart House, Upscale Seafood, Coconut grove, Fl.
Cafe Tu Tu Tango, Coconut Grove, Fl.
Gatsby’s, Upscale Billiards and Cigar Bar, Boca Raton, Fl.
Prezzo, Casual Italian, Boca Raton, Fl.
Maxwell’s Chophouse, Upscale Steakhouse, Boca Raton, Fl.
Mountain Deli, Delicatessen, Downtown Hendersonville, NC
Tabica Grill, Upscale American, Jupiter, Fl.
Jonathon's Landing Marina Club, Upscale Boating Club, Jupiter, Fl
Jetty's, Upscale Seafood, Jupiter, Fl.
Austin Grill, Casual, Washington, DC.

Litigation Support - David Rutecki offers expert witness and litigation support for restaurant related issues in the United States. His services are available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defendant. Areas of Expertise: